Newhaven residents without water for the second time in a week
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This is the second incident of water shortages in the area in the past week, with South East Water attributing the lack of water supply to high demand.
Water shortages have been a persistent issue across Kent and Sussex this week due to prolonged dry weather, with four schools across East Sussex forced to close due to water shortages, including Harbour Primary School in Newhaven. Bottled water stations have been set up by South East Water in some areas.
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Hide AdNewhaven councillor Sean Macleod said: "It really isn't good enough from South East Water. It’s one of the hottest days of the year and people are really struggling, this is the second time in a week that Newhaven has been without water, is this just going to become a habit over the summer? It is frankly disgusting that given the temperature that South East Water are not providing residents with water."
South East Water Incident Manager Steve Andrews said: “We are continuing to see very high demand for water in Kent and Sussex. Yesterday we produced 654 megalitres of tap water, when the usual figure is 540. All our water treatment works and water sources available to us are being used, but with the demand still so high, our treated water storage reservoirs are not refilling enough to keep all our customers in supply.
“This means up to 2,500 customers, mainly in the Wadhurst area may be without water or have low pressure. We are working with schools to try to get alternate water to them. We also have bottled water collection stations set up which will be open from 9.30am today. Details are on our website.
“Customers on our priority services register are receiving deliveries of bottled water from our Customer Care Team. We are doing everything we can, including moving water around our network. However we are continuing to ask customers who do have tap water supplies to only use it for essential tasks such as hygiene, hydration and cooking. Please don’t use hosepipes and sprinklers as this drains the system very quickly.”